Bangkok cabbie’s licence suspended for demanding exorbitant fares

By The Nation

 

 

The Department of Land Transport (DLT) has suspended the licence of a Bangkok taxi driver who allegedly refused to use the meter and demanded the passenger pay Bt500 for a ride from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to city centre on Wednesday.

 

A source at the DLT head office said the cabbie, Saman Cherdchu, who was also fined as per the 1979 Vehicle Act, was found to have committed the same offence – refusing to use the meter and demanding hefty fares from passengers – on five other occasions. Hence, the DLT also suspended his public transport licence for a month and sent him to undergo three hours of training on providing good service.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30374132

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-08-02

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6 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

was found to have committed the same offence – refusing to use the meter and demanding hefty fares from passengers – on five other occasions. Hence, the DLT also suspended his public transport licence for a month

 

I think the DLT has a lot to learn about the notion of progressive discipline...

 

After his now sixth offense, and those are only the one's he's apparently been complained or caught about, you'd think DLT could muster the backbone to hit him with a bit more than a 1 month suspension....

 

What are they doing, rating their suspensions as 1 day for each documented complaint???  

9 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I think the DLT has a lot to learn about the notion of progressive discipline...

 

After his now sixth offense, and those are only the one's he's apparently been complained or caught about, you'd think DLT could muster the backbone to hit him with a bit more than a 1 month suspension....

 

What are they doing, rating their suspensions as 1 day for each documented complaint???  

Thailands 'Tolerant Society' in action !

I'm sure that has got the whole taxi industry shaking in their cabs ! ok so I can do it 6 times then have a month off and 3 hours of how not to get caught training

How much is the fine for driving a taxi without license? 100B?

14 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I think the DLT has a lot to learn about the notion of progressive discipline...

 

After his now sixth offense, and those are only the one's he's apparently been complained or caught about, you'd think DLT could muster the backbone to hit him with a bit more than a 1 month suspension....

 

What are they doing, rating their suspensions as 1 day for each documented complaint???  

Go the root cause, the driver he wont change. So he will drive illegally. But take away the taxi, that creates change.

18 minutes ago, legend49 said:

Go the root cause, the driver he wont change. So he will drive illegally. But take away the taxi, that creates change.

It's probably a rental...

How about a 1000bht fine for first offence, 2000bht and one month taxi licence suspension for 2nd, and one month jail time and 5000bht fine after third.. Then maybe these rogue taxi drivers may learn something.. 

 

 

14 hours ago, tracker1 said:

I'm sure that has got the whole taxi industry shaking in their cabs ! ok so I can do it 6 times then have a month off and 3 hours of how not to get caught training

ARE these drivers forced to repay passengers for the over charge???

I doubt it very much........

Complete farce ! and like many other things here is absolutely no deterrent whatsoever.

You have to have real consequences to be effective. Hit him with 40,000 fine & 3 months suspension or 3 months in jail if he can't pay.

Get caught again and you'll never drive a Taxi again !

 

NYC had a similar problem with these type guys at the airport. They starting impounding the cars and that cut down on it. Even if it's a rental, the actual owner of the taxi will lose since the car will be out of service not earning money. This will put pressure on the guys just renting the car to behave.

They should also ban the driver and actual car from picking up at the airport - sort of a blacklist. 

NYC also instituted a flat fare from the airport to Manhattan (varied based on which part of the island was the final destination). This stopped a lot of the nonsense. I could see a similar thing here with Bangkok divided into zones and a rate based on the average fare from the airport. Maybe have a surcharge for times of peak traffic.

But a Thai did not think of this plan so of course it won't happen.

6 minutes ago, phkauf said:

NYC had a similar problem with these type guys at the airport. They starting impounding the cars and that cut down on it. Even if it's a rental, the actual owner of the taxi will lose since the car will be out of service not earning money. This will put pressure on the guys just renting the car to behave.

They should also ban the driver and actual car from picking up at the airport - sort of a blacklist. 

NYC also instituted a flat fare from the airport to Manhattan (varied based on which part of the island was the final destination). This stopped a lot of the nonsense. I could see a similar thing here with Bangkok divided into zones and a rate based on the average fare from the airport. Maybe have a surcharge for times of peak traffic.

But a Thai did not think of this plan so of course it won't happen.

Police won’t take Impounding action here as it affects their commission from the taxi companies. Don’t need flat fares, meters regulate the fares if you make sure they use them and don’t tamper with them . But insufficient inspectors and no motivation to make that happen.

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

sent him to undergo three hours of training on providing good service.

 

Three hours???? Even 3 years wouldn't help, it's genetic.

I prefer the word revoked rather than suspended

This animal should be hounded by the Thai community, with the reduced money tourists are bringing in due exchange rates this animal wants it all and not prepared to share

what , they are supposed to have a drivers license, since when??

Why not just take the BTS?

 

Ok, I get heavy luggage, fractious children etc. etc. but once you arrive in central Bangkok you can take a tuk-tu......

 

Hmmm...needs more thought. ???? It's a minefield out there.

Thailand continues it's unwillingness to embrace the concept of deterrence. But, we have the name of this scoundrel. Whatever we can do so shame Saman Cherdchu, phone number 061-4468211, might set an example for other taxi drivers, unwilling to use the meter. Any ideas? 

18 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I think the DLT has a lot to learn about the notion of progressive discipline...

 

After his now sixth offense, and those are only the one's he's apparently been complained or caught about, you'd think DLT could muster the backbone to hit him with a bit more than a 1 month suspension....

 

What are they doing, rating their suspensions as 1 day for each documented complaint???  

 In the bigger picture this is a strong factor in why many Thais, not only taxi drivers have no respect for most laws. punishment is a silly joke. 

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

sent him to undergo three hours of training on providing good service.

I have not been requested to provide this training, leading me to believe that it will be nothing more a joke.

1 hour ago, Traubert said:

Why not just take the BTS?

Why not just call Grab?  The fare will be published and they take seriously the conduct of their partners.  I only take a taxi if I can't get a Grab.

The airport. Hah! See what happens when you get caught needing a taxi from Chaengwattana after 4 pm. 300 baht to Mo Chit BTS, 400 baht to Pinklao, or 500 baht to Thawi Wattana. If they can't crack down on non metered shakedowns in the Government Complex at Chaengwattana, where can they?  Joke.

1 hour ago, zydeco said:

If they can't crack down on non metered shakedowns in the Government Complex at Chaengwattana, where can they?  Joke.

 

Sorry, he's long gone now into bureaucratic, civilian obscurity.... Not that he ever did anything meaningful about criminal taxi drivers anyway.... 

The airport. Hah! See what happens when you get caught needing a taxi from Chaengwattana after 4 pm. 300 baht to Mo Chit BTS, 400 baht to Pinklao, or 500 baht to Thawi Wattana. If they can't crack down on non metered shakedowns in the Government Complex at Chaengwattana, where can they?  Joke.

Yep had no choice either pay the 300 or stay till dark and walk. The first guy I threatened to report and took my phone out and he just laughed and waved me away.. Scum

 

I did find a couple to share with so that eases the pain

That wont stop him working. License or no license odds are he will continue

So now he will get another joker to fill his side of the 12/12 hour taxi allocation and take a month off visiting relatives upcountry.

 

What will he do?

 

 

Caught six times - not caught six hundred.

22 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

refusing to use the meter and demanding hefty fares from passengers – on five other occasions.

Yet they only suspend his licence !!!!

He should have it removed for life, when will they learn this is being watched all over the world and is having a negative impact on tourism... time to stop pi**ing around with fines & suspensions.

Sounds like the DLT needs to have a progressive disciplinary system for these drivers. I'm betting the small fines or small suspensions they hand out are nothing equal to the amount of money these "no meter" drivers make in a day or 2. I really wish the country I love so much would get more disciplined on anything having to do with a vehicle: taxi's, speeding, motorcycle's, helmets, etc.

One problem is most first time visitors won’t know what a fair price is and depending on arrival time what other options they have available to them... so the cabbies play the odds and go for it even if they get caught and penalized for them it’s worth the risk.  Sadly the dwindling number of tourists, the increased fights between drivers for fares, and the adoption of GRAB has blinded them to the fact people will stay away if you keep ripping them off, their greed won’t let them see the slow train coming down the track.  Eventually they will die the slow death.  

Everybody should play the game, at Changwattana we should all agree the fare let the car crawl down to the main road and when adjacent with   the traffic control police at the main road jump out and tell the police he is a crazy driver, there will be no fare as the meter isnt on and he will fight for a fare in the traffic, i am fed up having to beg for a taxi to take me to Lak Si